Consumer protection refers to the laws designed to aid retail consumers of goods and services that have been improperly manufactured, delivered, performed, handled, or described. Such laws provide the retail consumer with additional protections and remedies not generally provided to merchants and others who engage in business transactions, on the premise that the consumers do not enjoy a sufficient bargaining position with respect to the businessmen with whom they deal and therefore should not be strictly limited by the legal rules that govern recovery for damages among businessmen. The overarching goal is to protect individuals and the interest of the public in general from unfair and misleading activity in business and commerce (such as false advertising and deceptive trade practices) and scams perpetrated by criminals (such as identity theft and pyramid schemes) that harm a substantial number of consumers.
Carlin is a town located near the western border of Elko County in northeast Nevada, 23 miles (37 km) west of the city of Elko. It is part of the Elko Micropolitan Statistical Area. Carlin sits along Interstate 80 at an elevation of approximately 4,900 feet (1,500 m). As of the 2000 census, its population was 2,161. Its slogan is "Where The Train Stops... And the Gold Rush Begins". Carlin was the home of the Native American shaman John Rolling Thunder Pope, who worked as a brakeman on the railway.